E070: How to find Happiness with New York Times Bestseller Author Gretchen Rubin
To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:
If you have a chance, I would really appreciate your feedback on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking on iTunes greatly! Meanwhile, enjoy the show!
“If you look at the people who are happier they tend to have more strong relationships” – Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books
, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. She has an enormous readership, both in print and online, and her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages. On her weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, she discusses good habits and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft. Gretchen started her career in law and was clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she wanted to be a writer. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.In today’s show, Gretchen and Jacob discuss the difference between being happy and being happier, how to make other people happy, and Gretchen’s happiness project.
“The research shows…that actually happy people are more altruistic” – Gretchen Rubin
Have you ever asked yourself what you really want from life? For most people, the answer is something like “I just want to be happy”…So what does that really mean, and more importantly, how do we get that? Well, Gretchen Rubin has the answers. Gretchen is an ex-attorney who has focused her life on understanding happiness, released three books and even has her own happiness podcast. Today she chats to Jacob about what it takes to be happier and how to make other people happier.
If you prefer to watch the discussion in action, here is my recorded interview with Gretchen Rubin (please refresh your browser a few times if it isn’t loaded properly the first time):
In this interview you’ll learn
- 03’35” – Gretchen’s secrets to become happier
- 06’15” – Why Gretchen believes that lawyers are often unhappy
- 09’11” – Habits that Gretchen tried, to add happiness but which didn’t work
- 11’14 “- Gretchen’s ideas about what to do to induce happiness
- 17’40” – Why Gretchen believes that you have to be happy, to make other people happy
- 19’01” – The idea of changing habits
- 20’00” – How to get started with your own happiness project
Written Podcast Transcription:
Introduction: Welcome to the Enchanting Lawyer Podcast. The show that walks you step by step to improving strategies you can use today to grow your business. We show you how being kind, useful and, of course, enchanting will bring you more clients and build a thriving community. Now here’s your host from sunny San Diego, Jacob Sapochnick.
Jacob: Hello everybody, this is Jacob Sapochnick with Enchanting Lawyer Podcast. This is a show where we interview the most inspiring entrepreneurs and business people from all over the world who share their ideas and stories with us and make us better at what we do.
Today, I have a very special and exciting guest. As you know, we advocate the enchanting way. This is the Enchanting Lawyer show where we promote happiness and kindness and just be more flexible. If we apply happiness in our life, amazing things can happen.
Today I have Gretchen Rubin who is one of the most thought provoking and influential writers on habits and happiness. Her next book, Better Than Before, is about how we change our habits. One of my favorites is The Happiness Project and Happier at Home were both instant New York Times Bestsellers and the Happiness project spent of more than two years on the bestseller list including the number one.
I just recently learned that Gretchen is recovering attorney. She clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She was the editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. This is amazing because we have people who listen to my show and they are attorneys and people that don’t want to be attorneys anymore and I think this is great to have Gretchen in the show. Welcome. I’m very excited to have you here.
Gretchen: I’m very happy to be talking to you.
Jacob: Excellent.
Gretchen, I feel that—and I just mentioned to you before the show that happiness and kindness and just making sure this is kind of important part of our life is really important to me. I’m curious why you find it to be so important and why don’t you tell our listeners a bit more about the Happiness Project where you spend a year testing and trying to apply happiness to your life. I’m very curious about this.
Gretchen: Well, I got the idea—I was finishing up my biography of JFK and I was in a city bus stuck in the pouring rain and I had one of those rare opportunities for reflection that you don’t often get in the tumult of everyday life. I looked out the window and I felt “Well, what do I want from life anyway?” and I thought “I want to be happy!” but I realized I didn’t spend any time thinking about whether I was happy or if I could be happier and the thought struck me. “Well, I should have a happiness project,” That was the phrase that I thought.
For the complete podcast transcription, click here.
Show Notes
- Gretchen’s website
- Gretchen’s podcast
- Book – Better than Before
- Book – The Happiness Project
- Book – Happier at Home
Is there any question you have regarding the podcast guest that is not addressed in this blog post? Please leave me a comment below or send me your thoughts at jacob@enchantinglawyer.com. I would really appreciate your feedback, your suggestion on future guests, or just an opportunity to chat with you!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
